Long vowels

THOUGHT, NORTH, FORCE

[ɔ:] is a widespread realization for these vowels, with a short vowel in THOUGHT in Scotland. [ɔ:] is frequently diphthongized to [ɔə] in South-east England, where [o:] is otherwise usual, as it is in Scotland in FORCE and, variably, in NORTH. [ɔ:] and [o:] co-occur in the Channel Islands and British Creole, and [ɔ:] and [o:] in Northern England for all three vowels (with [a:] in THOUGHT and [o:] in NORTH and FORCE). NORTH and FORCE exhibit the characteristic if recessive feature of [ʊə] in North-east England.

There is marked variation within Irish accents. THOUGHT exhibits a range of rounded and unrounded back vowels and, in popular Dublin speech, [a:]; NORTH vowels similarly are [ɔ:], [ɑ:], [ɒ:] and [a:]. FORCE exhibits predominantly [o:] and [ɔ:], with [ɒ:] in popular Dublin. An off-glide is not uncommon with non-rhotic accents.